Having been to so many amazing, wonderful places, whittling down my list to my top ten has taken quite a bit of work and thought. Out of all my 80 countries I have been to, there are just five I would never go back to again. I am sometimes reluctant to share my favourites, because it can lead to a war of words on why I chose one place and not another! My criteria are based around culture, food, ease of travel, safety and peace, great nature and people. So with that caveat, here are…
Taiwan
Tag Archives for Taiwan.
And Russia makes 77
I am filling in my globe with all of the countries, territories and regions I have visited. With the addition of Russia this week, I have made it to 77 countries. I only count a country if I have left the airport. So while, I have transited through Doha and Johannesburg airports, I do not include Qatar and South South Africa in my tally. I have been to about two thirds of the countries in both Asia and Europe and exactly half of all the nations in the Oceania region of the planet. African exploration…
Riding the Quaint Beautiful Jiji railway in Taiwan
There is something magical for me, about train rides whether slow steam hauled locals or super high speed expresses that criss cross parts of Asia and Europe. Today’s seven train ride on three separate railway lines managed to combine slow and fast trains, scenery and amazing food into a beautiful day trip on the Jiji Railway. Verdict: My Overall Rating: 81% Why it should be visited: Nice scenery, a glimpse of “real” Taiwan, friendly people, easy to find great foos Negatives: Lack of coordination of train and bus timetables Would I return?: Yes Location and Orientation…
How Big is that Island? The World’s Top 25 islands mapped.
I love gazing at maps. This map of the world’s 25 largest island nations and territories hooked me in. Seeing the actual sizes to scale makes you realise how big some island groupings are. Take Indonesia, for example. It is eight times bigger than New Zealand! The difference in size between the UK, home to 65 million and NZ, home to 4.5million, is not that much different. That tiny smudge on the north of most maps is Greenland, and yet it is about one-third the size of Australia! I have been to 12 of the top 25.…
Will I keep flying?
First of all it was MH370, then MH 17, then Taiwan, Iran, one in Mali and a shooting at a plane in Pakistan. Lots of people have been asking me whether I will keep flying after these horrific events. A poll, conducted for TheStreet by GfK at the end of July found that 36% of Americans feel afraid to fly internationally. Women are more fearful than men, older people are more fearful than younger people. For an Australian who flies Malaysia Airlines a lot and who has traversed the skies above the Ukraine a few times in my Europe voyages,…
TransAsia Crash kills up to 50 [updated]
Not a good week for air travel. It has been reported that up to 51 people have died and seven injured when TransAsia Airways GE222 made an emergency landing in post-typhoon weather conditions, ploughing into two homes in the village of Xixi, not far from Magong Airport on Penghu Island. The twin-engine turboprop ATR 72 was en-route from from Kaohsiung, a city in the south of Tawain to Penghu, an island archipelago off the western coast of Taiwan. There was heavy rain at the airport, the remnants of Typhoon Matmo which had earlier hit the island nation. There were 54 passengers and four crew members on board. Apparently, the pilot…
Thai Curfew Times Relaxed
In a move which is intended to help tourism, the military has relaxed the curfew. The curfew now runs from from midnight to 4 a.m. (It was 10pm to 6am). Markets, shops, petrol stations and bars will now be able to stay open longer. This follows a fall in tourism numbers of 20 per cent since martial law was imposed just over a week ago. Nine per cent of Thailand‘s GDP is tourism related. There has also been a drop in consumer spending by Thais. Outside Bangkok, tourists and locals are reporting little difference to day…
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